NEWS
New Album – Creatures – The new album will be released on June 14th 2024, ten new tracks, including the single The Future, the album is a mixture of styles incorporating influences from Chicago House, avant garde pop, electronic/industrial, to Scott Walker and David Bowie.
The Future will be released as a single on May 10th 2024, it is the first track to be released from the forthcoming album, Creatures.
The Best of Western Bloc is Out Now!
Coming March 29th 2024, a 20 track compilation of the best of Western Bloc. The album is called Invisible because that must be what so many artists feel they are. It can’t be helped, there is so much new music it’s just how it is. Invisible is an artistic statement covering the 6 albums released between 2020-2023. Meanwhile, work on album 7 is nearing completion, more news on that soon.
On The Unclean Fraternity of the Smiling Alligators – “This album defies easy classification, embracing an originality that sets it apart. Its distinctive sound and eclectic nature make it a recommended listen for those seeking something refreshingly unconventional.” – Pitch Perfect.
Western Bloc Official · The Unclean Fraternity of the Smiling Alligators
Read the Pitch Perfect Review here
The sixth album is complete and will be released in November 2023, the album title is The Unclean Fraternity of the Smiling Alligators, the title comes from a line from Jean Genet’s The Thief’s Journal, a book that also inspired the song on the album.The album was written and recorded between June and August 2023, 11 new tracks, piano and keyboards taking the lead over guitars, the album sleeve is shown below.
Thanks to Irregular Dreams for supporting independent artists!!
News – The debut album by Revolutionary Angels, the project involving UK electronic musician Jon Arnold (VCF-1) and Barry James McCarthy of Western Bloc has been completed, 2 years in the making this is a labour of love between the 2 musicians that has created an unique and intriguing album. The album is out on June 23rd 2023.
As the new album is released on all digital platforms, here are some updates on a few other imminent releases, on April 14th 2023 the 2nd cover version by Western Bloc was released on Corsair Records (UK), Keep on Keeping On (originally by Redskins) as a single.
On May 1st, McCarthy released the 3rd Military Grade Peace album, the first in 5 years, the album consists of 2 ambient drones, a tribute to the great Eliane Radigue, and is available on all digital platforms.
https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/3DqsjvqNSwuVRayrteA57s?utm_source=generator
Thanks to the Pitch Perfect peeps for this review of the album by Jamie Funk
Preview the album on Soundcloud here..
The title track from the forthcoming album will be released on February 3rd, a video shot in December will accompany the release.
Western Bloc will release their 5th album, Rules are Bourgeois Porn, on March 13th 2023. Recorded between June and October 2022 this is another leap forward with epic songs about the dark days we live in.
Western Bloc’s cover of the Echo and the Bunnymen classic, Rescue, is out now on Corsair Records. You can find all streaming and download links here:-
http://www.corsair-records.com
Western Bloc’s cover of Rescue by Echo & the Bunnymen will be released November 4th 2022 on Corsair Records. Described by BBC 6Music as “one of the UK’s most consistent labels”, It is an honour to be featured alongside many other great artists on this forthcoming release
Press Release for Rescue on Corsair Records
Latest News – September 26th 2022 – Western bloc are to feature on an album of covers to be released by Corsair Records in the United Kingdom. A cover of Rescue (from Echo & the Bunnymen’s 1980 classic, Crocodiles) and Keep on Keeping on (from the sole Redskins album from 1986), no release date is available as yet. Meanwhile the fifth album is nearing completion and should see the light of day in early 2023.
June 14th 2022 – Huge thanks to CJSW who has sent Solitude for the Masses to 55 Campus Radio stations across Canada!
Thanks to Divide and Conquer
https://www.pitchperfectsite.com/indie-music-album-reviews/western-bloc-solitude-for-the-masses
NEW ALBUM COMING SOON – January 27th 2022
Solitude for the Masses is the title of the fourth album by Western Bloc, tipped for a late March/early April 2022, a single will be released as a taster for this very different sounding album. It will be released on The House Ablaze records and will be available on all digital platforms worldwide. Poverty and so many other factors prevent a physical release at this time.
NEW ALBUM NEWS……………NEW ALBUM NEWS…………..NEW ALBUM NEWS…….. January 14th 2022
The fourth album by Western Bloc is complete, currently being mastered in the United Kingdom. A release date will be announced soon. The album is a big departure from the previous album and we are very excited to share a first listen. The as yet untitled fourth LP has 10 tracks and was recorded in Calgary, Alberta in September through to November and was mixed in December.
Another great review of the new album here
https://www.pitchperfectsite.com/indie-music-album-reviews/western-bloc-monkey-christ
Monkey Christ to be released on August 31st 2021 – News June 26th 2021
The 2nd album of 2021, the third from Western Bloc will be released on August 31st 2021. Monkey Christ will consist of 9 new tracks, including the 9 minute 20 seconds title track, a dark, claustrophobic, epic song about existence and death. The album takes its influences from the avant garde, Can, This Heat, with experimentation at the forefront. It will be released by The House Ablaze Records on all digital platforms for streaming or purchase. This is the follow up to La Peste, released in January 2021, also recorded during the pandemic.
New Album- Monkey Christ – Coming Soon
Crossing Oceans video released – January 1st 2021
New video posted for the track Crossing Oceans, check it out by clicking on the videos tab in the menu
Coming January 15th 2021 – The new album from Western Bloc – La Peste
11 months after the release of the debut album comes La Peste, a dark, sometimes experimental, guitar driven journey, though Socialist uprising, suicide, anti-fascism, loss, excoriation of Empire, racism, greed, and occasionally a dip into weirdness.
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First Listen to a Track from the New Album – November 20th 2020
New Album News – November 1st 2020
Coming soon – The 2nd album by Western Bloc – La Peste, likely due in January 2021, this is the follow up to 2020s Dead Doves & Rotting Olive Branches. Written and recorded during lockdown, between March & June, mixed in September & October, and currently being mastered in the UK. A more experimental approach this time, 10 new tracks, first listen coming soon
New Album News – October 6th 2020
The second album is complete, it was written and recorded between mid March through to June 2020, was mixed in August and September and will be mastered shortly. An array of influences helped shape its formation, The Fall, This Heat, Can, Camberwell Now, Brian Eno, and a desire to be a bit more experimental. A particular influence was the amazing guitar work of Charles Bullen (This Heat, Lifetones), a huge incentive to work with different song structures and sounds.
The as yet untitled album should be released in early 2021.
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Very grateful for this review from Divide and Conquer, a true champion of independent music.
READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE:
Debut Album available NOW!
Download or stream on all digital platforms worldwide
Stream the full album here:
https://soundcloud.com/user-994402274/sets/dead-doves-rotting-olive
Another track from the forthcoming album Dead Doves & Rotting Olive Branches.
Debut Album – Dead Doves & Rotting Olive Branches will be released February 18th 2020
Debut single – Video available now
Available on iTunes, Spotify, & all digital platforms on January 14th 2020
DEBUT ALBUM COMING IN 2020
Dead Doves & Rotting Olive Branches is the title of the debut album by Western Bloc. The Album was recorded at various points in 2019, mixed in November, and mastered in December. The first track to be lifted from the album will be available in January 2020 along with a video. The album is set for release in February or March of 2020. The album will be released on all major digital platforms via The House Ablaze Records.
The sleeve to the new album is pictured below, a design by ILK Productions based on the work of the graphic artist Peter Dixon.
The title of the album is derived from the current era we are living in, where Peace is becoming a tarnished and abstract concept. The far right are thriving throughout Europe, emboldened by Trump, the American Republican Party and it’s associations with white nationalism and the KKK, and the election of the deleterious Conservative Party in the UK, so far to the right that Neo-Nazis like Britain First and the EDL are joining the Conservative party.
It feels like a recrudescence of Fascism is creeping up on us.
This album has songs that address the pain, malaise and horror of the cold, heartless, corporate, capitalist hell we have to exist in. Am I not young, rich, or perfect, but I have a voice, and I know I’m not alone. Music is in the dire, artless, corporate cesspit that it was in prior to Punk, New Wave and the rise of Hip Hop, maybe it’s because the “industry” is dead, maybe money is the only God left, maybe I’m just too old, this is my art.
Western Bloc 